Autumn Family Photography: Leaves, Laughter & Love

Autumn Family Photography: Leaves, Laughter & Love

If I had to recommend a single season for family photography in Cambridge, it would be autumn without hesitation. The light is lower, warmer, and more interesting than summer. The colours in the trees and on the ground give every outdoor location depth and texture. The air is cool enough that children actually want to run and play rather than wilt. October and early November are the peak weeks.

The Richards family — parents Claire and Tom, children Isla (seven) and Felix (five) — booked an October Sunday morning session. It was their third annual family session; they had been coming back each autumn since Isla was five.

The Location: Wandlebury Country Park

Wandlebury, on the Gog Magog Hills above Cambridge, is a specific and excellent location for autumn family photography. The woodland paths have a canopy that at peak season is solid copper and gold overhead. The open ridge has views across the southern Cambridgeshire plain. The deer park in the morning is often mist-filled in autumn.

We arrived at 8:30am. The morning mist was still in the lower paths. Felix immediately found a pile of fallen leaves that he considered deeply interesting. Isla had brought a book, which she read sitting on a stump at the edge of the tree line for ten minutes while I photographed the family from a distance — one of the best images of the whole session.

What Autumn Autumn Delivers

Autumn family sessions have a specific quality compared to other seasons. The warmth of the palette — ochre, amber, burnt sienna, deep green against copper — does things to the colour rendition of skin tones. Children in red or orange clothing against an autumn background: almost impossible to photograph badly.

The Richards family had, semi-accidentally, dressed in warm tones — Claire in rust, Tom in forest green, Isla in a mustard cardigan, Felix in orange wellies — which matched the location so well I privately wondered if they had planned it. They had not. It worked perfectly.